Galicia PAU Artistic Drawing II / Dibujo Artístico II CIUG common mistakes
Galicia PAU Artistic Drawing II / Dibujo Artístico II CIUG · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Starting the exam question without first spending 3–5 minutes making small thumbnail sketches (encajes) of two or three alternative compositions, then committing to the first idea and running out of time to correct proportion or placement.
Candidates fear losing time and begin drawing the final format directly, so structural errors (horizon line, head-to-body ratio, negative space) get locked in and become expensive to fix later.
What to do instead
Reserve a fixed 10–15 minutes for 3 quick thumbnails at 5×8 cm, choose one, and transfer it with light construction lines before any detail. Treat thumbnails as non-negotiable, timed like an exam section.
Drawing the human figure with the head too large and the body compressed, or with limbs of unequal length, because the figure was drawn part by part instead of from a global proportion scheme.
Candidates draw the head first at high detail and then fit the rest of the body into the remaining paper, losing the 7.5–8 head canon and the midpoint at the pubis.
What to do instead
Before detail, mark the total height, the midpoint (pubis), the nipple line, the knee line and the shoulder width (about two head-widths); check the figure against these landmarks with a ruler or pencil at arm's length before adding anatomy.
Using uniform, even line weight and pressure throughout the drawing, so contour, internal structure and shadow edges all read with the same emphasis and the image looks flat and indecisive.
Candidates equate 'clean drawing' with consistent lines and are afraid that varying pressure looks messy or unfinished.
What to do instead
Deliberately assign three line weights: heaviest for the outer contour and overlapping forms, medium for internal structure, lightest for construction and texture. Practise a 10-minute exercise drawing one object with only two pencils of different hardness.
Building value with smudging and general shading instead of a defined light source, producing grey, mid-tone drawings with no clear highlights, core shadows or cast shadows.
Smudging is fast and hides drawing errors, and candidates have not fixed the direction of light before starting, so values drift.
What to do instead
Draw a small arrow in the margin indicating light direction and decide the value range (e.g. 3 tones plus paper white) before shading. Block in shadow shapes as flat masses first, then refine edges; keep the darkest dark and lightest light identified explicitly.
Applying linear perspective inconsistently: multiple vanishing points at different heights, horizon line not shared by all receding edges, or ellipses in cylinders drawn as pointed ovals instead of smooth curves.
Candidates learn perspective rules in isolation but do not establish a single station point and horizon before drawing, and they freehand ellipses without axis guides.
What to do instead
Draw the horizon line and mark one or two vanishing points lightly at the start; check every receding edge against them. For ellipses, draw the bounding box and centre axes first and keep the curve tangent to the box midpoints.
Producing a texture that is decorative pattern (repeated dots, hatching, scribbles) unrelated to the represented material or form, so texture does not describe surface or volume.
Candidates memorise texture 'effects' and apply them uniformly, ignoring how texture compresses, changes scale and follows the form's curvature.
What to do instead
Analyse the material first: direction of grain, scale relative to the object, and how it wraps around the form. Draw texture along the form's cross-contour and vary density with the light so texture reinforces modelling rather than competing with it.
In the image-analysis question, writing a descriptive inventory ('there is a figure, it is dark, there are diagonal lines') without identifying compositional structure, spatial organisation, treatment of light or the work's context and intention.
Candidates confuse seeing with analysing and lack a fixed analytical framework, so they list what is visible rather than explaining how the image works.
What to do instead
Use a fixed four-step structure: (1) identify and describe the work and its technique; (2) analyse composition, format, focal point, lines of force, value and colour; (3) interpret expressive and communicative effects; (4) contextualise within period, movement or the artist's trajectory. Each claim must be tied to a specific visual element.
Choosing an inappropriate or poorly prepared support and medium combination - overworking a thin paper with heavy wet media, using graphite on a toothless surface, or mixing incompatible media without testing - causing buckling, greasy marks or muddy colour.
Candidates practise only with one familiar technique and improvise on exam day, underestimating how paper weight, sizing and medium interact.
What to do instead
Before the exam, test each medium on the actual support you will use. In the exam, keep wet layers thin on light paper, reserve the smoothest area for fine graphite, and let each layer dry before mixing; choose the technique you have rehearsed rather than experimenting under time pressure.
Presenting the creative-process section as a single finished image with no evidence of ideation, or with sketches added afterwards that do not logically lead to the final solution.
Candidates treat sketchbooks as private and assume only the final result is graded, so they skip documentation of alternatives, discarded ideas and decisions.
What to do instead
Show a visible sequence: initial references and mind map, at least three divergent sketches, one selected and annotated with reasons, tests of technique or colour, and the final resolution. Annotate briefly why alternatives were rejected so the reasoning is legible.
Citing only canonical modern references (Picasso, Dalí, Velázquez) in the contemporary-art question and ignoring current practices, or naming artists without linking them to specific works, procedures or ideas.
Candidates revise from older textbooks and are unsure of post-2000 practices, so they avoid risk by repeating safe names and generic statements.
What to do instead
Prepare a short list of contemporary references across drawing, installation, animation and digital practice, each with one specific work, its technique and one idea it raises. Practise connecting each reference to the candidate's own project to demonstrate interdisciplinarity rather than name-dropping.